The Decline of Democracy

Voters Revolt has one purpose - to demand the restoration of healthy democracy in the UK.  Almost no one will disagree with this aim.  But we must first be clear about the essential nature of democracy, before we can appreciate its appalling decline, almost to the point of death, during the last hundred years.

What is Democracy?

It is not simply the holding of elections.  Democracy has to be a properly balanced living organism.  Only then can a free country be governed efficiently, under the rule of law, subject always to the collective will of the people.  This balance must be respected both nationally and locally.
 
The body of UK democracy has many limbs and organs.  At its heart is the Westminster Parliament.  Some powers are devolved to parliaments or assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

There have also been moves to introduce regional governments within England - for London and eight English Regions.  The EU encourages the role of such regions throughout Europe.  We also vote for Members of the European Parliament. 

The level of democracy that most closely affects our daily lives is the local councils, now threatened by yet another reorganisation.  

Each of these many aspects of democracy is a study in itself, involving varying degrees of controversy with which Voters Revolt will not be concerned. 

Voters Revolt does not simply want more elected bodies.  There can be too many layers of democracy, resulting in more expense and unnecessary bureaucracy.
 
Voters Revolt will not fragment its support by entering too deeply into the debates about devolution, regional government or the EU.  Nor is it primarily concerned with the role of the Monarchy or the House of Lords, important though these questions are.

The Faltering Pulse of Democracy

This page deals mainly with the diagnosis of how our democratic lifeblood has been infected, diverted and weakened, nationally in Westminster and in local councils.  Opinions may vary about the remedies, but it is important to recognise the symptoms and appreciate the seriousness of the disease.

Speaker Betty Boothroyd’s View

This is the opinion of Betty Boothroyd, a respected Speaker of the House of Commons, given in her final speech as Speaker in 2000:-

“Sadly, I have to say that the high reputation of Westminster abroad is not entirely reflected at home. I know from my postbag how much disillusionment about the political process there is among the general public. The level of cynicism about Parliament, and the accompanying alienation of many of the young from the democratic process, is troubling”.

Tony Benn’s View

These are the views of veteran former MP, Tony Benn, given in his pamphlet ‘The Speaker, The Commons & Democracy’:-
 
“The prime minister can, using the royal prerogatives, take us to war, sign treaties, make laws in Brussels and exercise immense powers of patronage, appointing bishops, judges, peers, ministers, European commissioners all without getting parliamentary consent…
 
Today Britain, as a member of the EU, can have its laws repealed if they are found to conflict with legislation made by the Council of Ministers, in secret, in Brussels. The Commons has no say in the matter…
 
The mass media, occupying the position once held by the medieval church, are now very influential and the grand forum of the nation has moved from the chamber to the TV studios.  Globalisation has produced multinational corporations which are more powerful than many nation states, currency speculation can inflict serious damage and the IMF, World Bank and WTO, all unelected, have in effect become a world government with no claim to democratic legitimacy.
 
Set against those new power structures many people ask how their own interests can be effectively represented and indeed what is the future for democracy itself. Tight centralised executive control from Downing Street has replaced cabinet government and transformed parliamentary democracy into a spectator sport, a practice which is unlikely to change, even under a Conservative government…
 
There is no doubt that unless we can restore the vitality of representative democracy more and more people will conclude that they are just pawns in an unending political game to be managed and manipulated for the convenience of those at the top. This may help explain the falling turnout in elections, the growth of apathy and the sense of disenchantment with politics and parliament.
 
Sooner or later this erosion of democracy has to be faced and corrected if we are to avoid the danger that some rightwing demagogue could come along, as happened in Europe in the 30s and has re-appeared recently in Austria.”

From the other end of the political spectrum, similar sentiments are expressed in a Freedom Association article written by a Conservative councillor about the stifling of local councils.

A clear analysis of democracy's ailments and the pros and cons of a possible solution were set out in an article on Direct Democracy by Alistair McConnachie, published in 2000 in the Sovereignty journal.  This solution has the great merit of simplicity.  It has been adopted in some states of the USA and in Switzerland.   It enables the electorate to require a referendum on any issue.  This gives the people tangible power over government action and legislation

The Power Inquiry

The problems of the party system are described by Baroness Kennedy, who chaired the Power Inquiry  The title of her article on the Independent Online website is 'Helena Kennedy: We need to download power - that is what voters want'. She writes: "Our system allows parties to maintain a monopolistic grip on political power".

The danger is that the parties may adopt some of the Power Report's minor recommendations as a sop. They may then forget the key proposals designed to restore effective representative democracy, to keep the political establishment in check and to return power to the people.  The Report might even be highjacked by those who wish to see a post-democratic State supported by a sham of popular consultation.

The Post-Democratic Society

Other writers of different political persuasions have analysed the trend away from democracy, notably Marc Glendening of the Democracy Movement writing in the European Journal.  He has pinpointed a very real threat to the democratic tradition that most of us in this country still take for granted.

He explains that the concept of Post-Modern Authoritarianism means that the institutions of parliamentary democracy are being hollowed out through the transfer of powers to unaccountable agencies.  The anti-democratic virus has spread within the British body politic.  Our political class is abandoning liberal democracy.  It is undermining the foundations of the nation state - the only viable mechanism by which the ruling elite is held to account. The structures of democracy are left standing, but without meaningful decision-making functions.

There has been a drawing together of a wide network of elites across the political spectrum.  The Thatcher and Major governments restricted local democracy and created a proliferation of quangos which Blair has added to. 
 
Power is dispersed to a multiplicity of agencies; to civil servants by the expansion of statutory instruments; and to judges who make public policy through their interpretation of human rights legislation.  International treaties restrict the room for manoeuvre left to elected parliaments.  The political class is bypassing local electorates.
 
Particularly sinister is the spread of "enabling" legislation which cannot be challenged, reminiscent of the fascist regimes of the 1930s.  Politics is now about technocratic administration, holding on to office ruthlessly and extending your party's base of patronage.
 
The various streams through which political power is being drained away are becoming one big fast-flowing post-democratic river. One ray of hope he offers is that "referenda are now to the political class what crucifixes are to vampires".

A Dangerous "Enabling" Bill

A Bill quietly introduced into Parliament in 2006, the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill, is potentially as dangerous to democracy as the Act that allowed Hitler to set up his dictatorship.  The Regulatory Reform Committee states in its summary that the legislation is "the most constitutionally significant Bill that has been brought before Parliament for some years".  

The power for a Minister to make orders amending, repealing or replacing any legislation is specified in clause 2(2) as being a power to make orders which do anything that may be done by Act of Parliament, including conferring functions on any person, or modifying or transferring any such functions. The power to confer functions expressly includes conferring a function of legislating.  

It is to be hoped that Parliament makes sure that this bureaucratic charter is closely scrutinised and circumscribed before it becomes law.  It could give future Governments extraordinary powers to bypass Parliament.

If Parliament itself is weakened, it cannot be relied on to protect us against other legislation which may further weaken our democracy or threaten our civil liberties - for example, laws put forward by the executive on Civil Contingencies, Criminal Justice and Terrorism.

Electoral Reform

Like most citizens, you will be all too aware that we have less and less control over our lives.  This feeling must be shared by MPs and councillors.  Party machines and the Whips have acquired too much power.  Our representatives should be more concerned about the wishes of their constituents than by the dictates of their whips' offices.  Democracy is best served by a greater diversity and independence of opinion in the House of Commons. Click here for details of the reformed system recommended for general elections by Lord Jenkins' Commission.

The Gagging of Councillors

Council Monitoring Officers, backed by the Standards Board for England, interpret the Local Government Act 2000 in a way which strikes at the roots of democracy in local government. Under an incredible draconian ruling, councillors are prohibited from speaking or voting on any matter about which they have previously expressed a view – because it is held they thus have “a personal and professional interest” in that matter. They may not even communicate with fellow councillors about it, on pain of disqualification.

Regionalisation

We need to think carefully before we agree to the bureaucrats' wonderland of quangos in the English Regions, whether or not these are backed by elected regional assemblies - widely regarded as unnecessary and expensive talking shops.  There is talk of a wholesale reorganisation of local government into bigger units.  We should be wary of the doctrine that big is beautiful in local government.  Smaller local authorities are closer to the people they exist to serve.
 
The powers-that-be are rushing through the compulsory regionalising of police, fire, ambulance, health and other services, politicising them and removing them from local democratic control.  This diminution of democracy is camouflaged by talk of 'consultation', though this is usually little more than the appointment of a few councillors and a facade of public surveys on the level of "are you in favour of motherhood and apple pie?" 

No one's job is on the line if electors do not like what is being done.  It is all part of a process of redistributing power between the EU, national, regional and local government bodies - for reasons that have little to do with strengthening democracy, despite all the newspeak of empowering communities and so on.

The BBC

The debate on the future of the BBC is bedevilled by controversies over dumbing down and bias, inevitable in the new 'post democratic society'.  It is vital to the restoration of well-informed honest democracy that the BBC should again become independent, impartial and insulated from the power-games of politics.

Members of the European Parliament

The election of MEPs is dominated by the deep division of opinion about our place in or out of the European Union.  This will continue until we are allowed to vote in an honest referendum on the UK's membership of the EU.  Without a democratic resolution of this thirty-year-old question, there is no chance of a Europe-wide party-political consciousness emerging as pro-EU theorists wish. 

The method of voting for MEPs gives too much emphasis to party lists, to the disadvantage of candidates with individual views.  Regardless of one's views on the EU, it is difficult to deny that there is a democratic deficit within the EU structure - and it is arrogant contempt to deny the UK electorate a decisive voice on the basic principles of European co-operation.

Political Correctness

The Nanny State caricatures itself by absurd and intrusive political correctness and its ally the compensation culture, the worldwide enemies of democracy.  On many important subjects, debate is distorted or non-existent because of the shibboleths of unrepresentative but influential fanatics.

Our MPs and councillors should be given the confidence to stand up for commonsense, secure in the support of their electors.  This culture change will take a generation to bring about.  It will never happen unless we voters use our strength to compel the establishment to start the journey back to sanity and democracy.

Making Democracy Work Properly

Many of these failings will be corrected or kept in check if we can return to effective representative democracy.  The core of the system we were once so proud of is that everyone understands that our MPs and councillors speak for the people, to whom they will be answerable at successive elections.  The officials who run the ministries and council offices have to accept that, like it or not, they are employed to carry out the instructions of our representatives.  Our judges must be above politics and be independent of the government.  It is debateable whether they should be able to make new law by judgements on broad issues of human rights, which in the past have been the province of the legislature.

A Balanced Partnership

If democracy is to survive for another generation we have to restore a proper balance of mutual respect and trust between all the components of our political structure. The arrogance of the political ruling classes has brought us to the brink of disaster.  Voters Revolt shows the best way to rescue ourselves from the awful prospect of tyranny and eventual bloody counter-revolution.

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